Dodie Lemley is a talented artist, writer, teacher, and counselor. After plying her hand to several vocations and avocations, her heart led her to her current destination, The American Journey.

While growing up as an only child in a small town in rural Oklahoma, Dodie learned the work ethic of a caring father and the Christian values of a dedicated mother. These ideals would sustain her through future life challenges.

While in college, Dodie overcame crippling arthritis with perseverance and discipline. She would go on to earn her Bachelor's Degree in Speech and Drama. Later she would add a Master's Degree in Radio and Television and another in Marriage and Family Counseling.

Ms. Lemley's varied teaching experiences ranged from elementary to the college level. Early in her teaching career, she taught on both the Zuni and Navajo Reservations near Gallup, New Mexico. During her years in Gallup, she taught junior high English and journalism, and high school speech and drama. She later taught adult education speech classes at the Gallup Branch of the University of New Mexico. From there she journeyed west to California where she would teach high school English, speech and drama, followed by courses in sociology for Chapman University on four military bases. Along the way, she successfully engineered a private practice in Marriage and Family Counseling while teaching elementary band and classroom music, and later, sixth grade. With that, she retired, left California, and headed for the Lone Star State of Texas.

Dodie landed in Marble Falls, a small scenic town in the heart of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. It's here that her love of writing and art blossomed into full bloom with the creation of essays, stories and drawings that comprise The American Journey.

Dodie's interest in art began as early as kindergarten with fingerpainting, and as a very young child, she could often be found drawing cartoon characters. At the age of nine, she was greatly influenced by one two-hour, four-step lesson from a Disney cartoonist, whose techniques she continues to use today.

In the 1970s, Dodie developed Rael Classics, her own process of doing character studies on wood. From this work, portraits were given as gifts to both Roy Rogers and President Ronald Reagan.

In 1998, Dodie began doing black and white drawings, her models coming from an extensive collection of antique photographs. She not only fell in love with black and white, but also in searching for light in unexpected places. By using the light, she hopes to reflect God's love in each illustration. Looking closely, you may be able to find a hidden cross as well.

Her interest in American History and a television program on the history of Ellis Island led Dodie to a series of drawings and stories based on the lives of the immigrants. I Lift My Lamp is the first of the series, inspired by the sacrifice and perseverance of the immigrants who sought a better life for themselves and their children.

Ms. Lemley began writing about The American Spirit in 2000. The Choice was recently published in two local newspapers. Following September 11, copies of her booklet, Through a Child's Eyes, were distributed in New York to assist children who were grieving over the loss of a loved one in the World Trade Center tragedy.

dodie@theamericanjourney.com